Parts of the Gulf Coast are underwater and more rain is on the way
By Meteorologists Chris Dolce, Briana Waxman, Mary Gilbert, and CNN’s Kate S. Petersen
(CNN) — More rain is on the way for parts of the Gulf Coast still underwater after potentially record-breaking deluges forced evacuations and rescues from dozens of flooded homes, business and vehicles.
Over 2 feet of rain fell in Louisiana this week, and the state and Mississippi both recorded more than a foot of rain in 12 hours or less. More intense downpours like these are just one symptom of an atmosphere warming due to fossil fuel pollution.
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At least three people have died across the region since the active weather began on Sunday.
Another flash flood emergency — the highest level of flash flood warning — was issued Friday morning in hard-hit southern Mississippi. It’s a sign that it won’t take much rain to create more danger, and the atmosphere is still primed for flooding rain, even with Tropical Storm Arthur gone.
Deadly flooding swamps the region
Serious flooding killed two people in Texas earlier this week before Arthur and its moisture fueled catastrophic flooding in Louisiana and Mississippi.
There have been evacuations, water rescues and multiple flash flood emergencies in Louisiana and Mississippi since Thursday.
The latest flash flood emergency Friday morning was for Seminary, in Covington County, Mississippi, after up to 11 inches of rain fell there. The floodwater trapped multiple vehicles, shut down two roadways and damaged four homes, the county’s emergency director Brennon Chancellor said. No injuries have been reported.
These flash flood emergency areas likely experienced at least 1-in-50-year to 1-in-100-year floods — meaning they have a 2% or 1% chance, respectively, of happening in a given year.
Evacuations were lifted late Thursday for about 30 homes downstream of southern Mississippi’s Anchor Lake Dam after fears floodwater would cause the dam to fail and unleash a dangerous deluge.
Officials are still on site monitoring the dam, but have “high confidence in the dam’s structural integrity,” the Pearl River County Office of Emergency Services said in a post on Facebook.
Water rescues took place in neighboring Harrison County on the Gulf Coast, according to Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves. A county road crew member was also killed while working on storm cleanup in Franklin County, Reeves said on social media.
In Louisiana, Gov. Jeff Landry issued a state of emergency Thursday evening to respond to storm damage across the state. About 200 homes were flooded as of Friday morning in Avoyelles Parish in east-central Louisiana, parish Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness Director Joey Frank told CNN. About 60 residents were evacuated from a nursing home in the parish, he said.
On Tuesday, fire crews rescued a family, including an infant, from a home with knee-deep water, Picayune Fire Department Chief Joshua Abercrombie said, noting floodwater was waist deep on the road outside the home.
Arthur’s remnants also produced multiple tornadoes in southeast Louisiana. An EF1 tornado struck Avondale — just south of New Orleans — early Thursday morning, destroying four homes and causing minor damage to around a dozen others, Jefferson Parish spokesperson Rachel Strassel told CNN.
One mobile home was blown off its cinder blocks and struck a neighboring modular home, which resulted in two people being taken to the hospital, Strassel said. A woman in a third home said the storm blew her out of bed and shattered the windows. Office buildings were damaged, and a stationary train blown off its tracks elsewhere in the parish, the spokesperson said.
Tornadoes also spun up in Terrebonne and St. Tammany parishes in southern Louisiana. Homes were damaged and streets flooded in the city of Houma near the Gulf Coast, and “multiple high water evacuations out of homes” were conducted in St. Tammany northeast of New Orleans, authorities said.
More rain to come
A Level 3 of 4 risk of flooding rainfall is in place along the Gulf Coast Friday, mainly centered on southern Mississippi and Alabama. This follows the rare Level 4 of 4 high risk on Thursday in parts of the same area.
The upcoming rain through Saturday night isn’t expected to be as extreme as Thursday’s, so the risk is being driven by how incapable the already-soaked ground is at absorbing it.
Any steady rain could cause flooding, and an additional 1 to 3 inches is expected for much of the Gulf Coast through Saturday. Some areas could record 4 inches or more.
That could mean more rain in Louisiana, which has picked up more than 2 feet of rain (29.06 inches) since Sunday, much of which fell on Thursday alone and could challenge records.
Plaucheville’s 22.53 inches could challenge Louisiana’s decades-old all-time rainfall record for a 24-hour period, but research needs to be done to confirm it.
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CNN’s Karina Tsui, Taylor Romine and Andrew Freedman contributed to this report.
